Sites - Important Bird Areas (IBAs)

Ornithological information See Box and Table 2 for key species. A total of 330 bird species has been recorded from the site, including sporadic records of two species of global conservation concern. Marmaronetta angustirostris has been observed wintering in the park and there is also one record of a pair with three chicks in April 1979. There are a number of records of Falco naumanni on the site during January, including one record of c.80 birds in 1980. The restricted-range Lagonosticta virata has been recorded from a site c.30 km north of the park boundary. Information about the species’ presence in this area is lacking, but if further survey work finds that suitable habitat is present and the species appears to be well established this could justify extending the boundary of this IBA to include the relevant area. This is the only IBA in Senegal in which the biome-restricted Camaroptera chloronata has been recorded (see Table 2). The first African Waterbird Census of the site in 1997 recorded 2,500 Plectropterus gambensis; large numbers of the Afrotropical ducks Dendrocygn bicolor and D. viduata also use the park’s wetlands.

Site description The park lies in south-eastern Senegal, straddling the upper Gambia river and its tributaries (the Koulountou and the Niokolo-Koba), and close to and, in part, along the international frontier with Guinea, where it is contiguous with Badiar National Park (GN001). The park is largely flat, but includes a line of low hills in the east, reaching up to around 200 m (maximum 311 m at Mont Assirik). Much of the area is formed from laterite (iron pans) and sediments overlying Cambrian sandstone beds that outcrop in places. There are large areas of flood-plain and marsh (mainly in abandoned riverbeds and behind levées), inundated during the seasonal rains (June to October); mean annual rainfall is over 1,000 mm. The vegetation includes southern Sudan–Guinea savanna, with gallery forest and more luxuriant vegetation along watercourses and Vetiveria grasses or herbaceous savanna dominated by Andropogon gayanus in the valleys and plains. Flooded grassland areas are composed of Paspalum orbiculare and Echinocloa sp. Dry forest contains patches of bamboo Oxytenanthera abyssinica. The ravines and gallery forest include typical plant species of the Guinea–Congo Forest biome such as lianas and Raphia sudanica, Baissea multiflora, Nauclea latifolia, Dalbergia saxatilis and Landolphia dulcis. The vegetation on the slopes and hills, rocky outcrops, alluvial sands and iron pans is different. Semi-aquatic species and annuals appear along rivers and on periodically inundated sands. Dry forest or herbaceous savanna is found along the borders of some ponds, and thickets of thorn-bush, Mimosa pigra, occupy the centre of some marshes. Marsh vegetation on higher ground and acid soils includes Oryza brachyantha (wild rice) and, on humid banks, localized species such as Christiana africana, Cola laurifolia, Cynometra vogelii, Syzygium guineense, and Ziziphus amphibia occur. Riverbank species also include Acacia nilotica, Khaya senegalensis, Erythrophleum guineense, Ceiba pentandra, Afzelia africana and Borassus sp. Over 1,500 plant species have been recorded in the park.

Populations of IBA trigger species

Protected areas

Protected area	Designation	Area (ha)	Relationship with IBA	Overlap with IBA (ha)
Niokolo Koba	National Park	913,000	is identical to site	913,000
Niokolo-Koba National Park	World Heritage Site	913,000	is identical to site	913,000
Parc national du Niokolo-Koba	UNESCO-MAB Biosphere Reserve	913,000	is identical to site	913,000

Habitats

Land use

Other biodiversity Records from the park include 80 mammal species, 38 reptiles, 20 amphibians and 60 fish, as well as numerous invertebrates. Carnivores include Lycaon pictus (EN). The only Senegalese populations of the mammals Taurotragus derbianus (LR/nt) and Loxodonta africana (EN) are found in the park. There are also around 150 Pan troglodytes (EN) living in the gallery forest and on the slopes of Mont Assirik, at the north-west limit of their distribution. All three African crocodiles occur in the park, including Crocodylus cataphractus (DD) and Osteolaemus tetraspis (VU).

Management considerations Officially, the park is strictly protected and managed according to a management plan which includes restoration of natural ecosystems. Poaching, especially of large mammals (Panthera pardus, Syncerus caffer, various antelopes and Loxodonta africana) is a problem, causing declines in populations. Dams proposed for both the Gambia and the Niokolo-Koba rivers, and the probable associated developments in industrial mining and quarrying, threaten the hydrology and wetland functions of the park. Fire is still used as a means of savanna management within and outside the park and uncontrolled burning has caused damage to habitats in the park. As with other protected areas in Senegal, the park has suffered from a lack of financial resources and declining numbers of guards. It received its first external financial support (from the European Union) in 1994 under the ‘Projet Régional du Niokolo-Badiar’, which has established the site as a component of a cross-border international park, contiguous with the Parc National du Badiar in neighbouring Guinea. Many conservation-management and staff-training activities are now carried out collaboratively under this arrangement. However, the programme is focused on the southern and central parts of the park only, and efforts to raise awareness and to achieve integrated management of the park’s natural resources in collaboration with local communities have only just started. Additional funding from French development agencies is supporting a project (1997–2000) to rehabilitate and develop the park and its buffer zone, including ecotourism, monitoring (especially of rare and threatened species) and local community micro-projects. The project will result in a Biosphere Reserve management plan. The American Peace Corps has supported an environmental education programme around the park.

References Dupuy and Verschuren (1977), IUCN (1987a), Morel and Morel (1990), Payne (1997).

Contribute  Please click here to help BirdLife conserve the world's birds - your data for this IBA and others are vital for helping protect the environment.

Recommended citation  BirdLife International (2013) Important Bird Areas factsheet: Parc National du Niokolo-Koba. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 19/06/2013

To provide new information to update this factsheet or to correct any errors, please email BirdLife